The Emmaus Hornets are a very young softball team.

Last week, they got to experience championship varsity softball for the first time when they faced Parkland with the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship on the line. Parkland (23-0) used a senior and a sophomore to pull out a 1-0 win in a closely-contested game at Allentown’s Patriots Park.

The senior part of the equation was pitcher Aubree Fritzinger, who was able to pitch Parkland to its third win over the Hornets this season. The sophomore who came through for Parkland was Megan Fenstermaker, who singled through the right side of the infield for a base-hit that drove home Shauna Frank with the game’s only run in the fourth inning.

“This is the first time that these girls have been in this kind of situation,” said Emmaus head coach John Eyer. “That makes a big difference in the scope of things, when you’re in a championship game. I think they kept their poise and kept working and chipping away.”

Throughout the game, Emmaus (19-4) kept pressure on Parkland, even looking to steal a page from the Lady Trojans’ playbook on how to score a run. To get its run, Parkland used a leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single.

Emmaus opened the sixth with a walk by Cayley Grabowski and then had Alexis Ruth move her to second with a sacrifice bunt. With their three-and-four hitters coming up, things looked good for the Hornets. But they couldn’t get the key hit they needed to bring in the run, as Fritzinger got two groundballs right back to the mound to end the threat.

“I felt like we might be able to get that key hit and tie it up or go ahead, you never know,” said Eyer. “Getting that key hit is just what’s been killing us against them. We need to put the hits together better.”

Emmaus got a leadoff single from Maddie Clark in the seventh, but Megan Purinton was called out when her bunt attempt hit her outside of the batter’s box, leaving Clark at first with one out. Brooke Iobst, the only senior in Emmaus’ starting lineup, drove a single to right, but Fritzinger again rebounded and got the final two outs of the inning, stranding both runners.

“They can’t hang their heads,” said Eyer of his players. “Our mistakes didn’t hurt us. They had a hit. They bunted her to second and a base-hit scored her. They capitalized on their hits. We had the same amount of hits, so it’s not like they outplayed us. We just couldn’t string our stuff together to get that one run we wanted, but we’re not done.”

Pitcher Hannah Palinkas threw another strong game for Emmaus, allowing five hits throughout the game. Palinkas worked out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the first inning and a second-and-third, nobody-out jam in the sixth. Both situations were caused by fielding errors. In addition to her pitching performance, Palinkas picked up a one-out single in the third inning.

Parkland’s win made the Trojans the top seed in the District 11 Softball Tournament, with Emmaus filling in behind them as the number-two seed.

“If things go well, we’ll see them again,” said Eyer. “Who knows what’s going to happen in districts?”

The two teams would meet in the District 11 Championship game set for next Thursday at Patriots Park, if they both win their quarter and semifinal games.

Emmaus drew a first-round bye in districts and was scheduled to meet No. 7 Stroudsburg in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. That game was played after Press deadline. Semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday at Pates Park.